DHAKA: Egypt has returned to Qatar $2 billion that the Gulf state had deposited with Egypt’s central bank, after negotiations to convert the funds into three-year bonds broke down.Egypt’s central bank Governor Hisham Ramez said on Thursday, reports The Jerusalem Post.Qatar had sent

DHAKA: A former Afghan lawmaker and district governor said on Thursday he had defected to the Taliban as the Islamist hardliners seek to strengthen their influence before United States-led combat troops withdraw next year.Government officials confirmed that Qazi Abdul Hai had joined the

DHAKA: A ‘perfect’ white diamond which is expected to fetch a record price of up to US$35 million when it is auctioned in Hong Kong next month made its first appearance in the city on Thursday.The egg-shaped 118.28-carat ‘Magnificent Oval Diamond’, the largest of its kind, stunned

DHAKA: Russia has no current plans to destroy Syrian chemical weapons on its own territory under a Russia-US deal to eliminate president Bashar Assad’s stockpiles.Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said on Thursday, reports The Jerusalem Post.Asked whether Russia had plans to

DHAKA: A roadside bomb killed at least 14 members of president Bashar Assad’s minority Alawite on Thursday in the central Syrian province of Homs, an opposition monitoring group said.The blast targeted two buses near the Alawite village of Jabourin, 13 km north of Homs city, said Rami

DHAKA: Greek prime minister Antonis Samaras has said he will not let neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn ‘undermine’ democracy.His remarks came after a Golden Dawn supporter allegedly admitted killing an anti-fascist activist.‘This government is determined not to let the descendants of the

DHAKA: Philippine security forces killed eight Muslim rebels on Thursday as they hunted the remnants of a guerrilla force hiding in homes of a major city and believed to be holding hostages.A soldier also died, the military reported, bringing the death toll from 11 days of fierce street

DHAKA: A European Union police officer has been shot dead while on patrol in Kosovo, the first casualty since the EU took over security in 2008.The Eulex mission condemned the ‘act of cowardly violence’ and said a murder investigation had been launched.It said two vehicles, carrying

DHAKA: A man was beheaded and his girlfriend beaten to death in an ‘honour killing’ in northern India after they had eloped.The police said on Thursday, reports The Straits Times.The woman’s mother, father and uncle were arrested after the gruesome murders carried out in a village

DHAKA: The Washington Navy Yard has begun returning to nearly normal operations, three days after a gunman killed 12 people.The Navy installation re-opened at 6am local time on Thursday, but traffic was blocked from reaching the main gate because a tractor-trailer tried to make a U-turn,

DHAKA: Four men were formally charged on Thursday in a Mumbai court over the gang-rape of a young photographer in the city, a case that reignited anger about women’s safety across India.Crime branch officers filed a charge sheet laying out their case against the men at the Esplanade

DHAKA: Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the most prominent of slain Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi`s sons, has appeared in court in Zintan, west of the capital Tripoli, on security charges and his trial was adjourned until December, a lawyer said.‘Saif al-Islam Gaddafi appeared before the Zintan

DHAKA: Germany says it is giving 2 million euros to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to help it oversee the destruction of Syria’s arms stocks.An agreement last Saturday between Russia and the United States called for an inventory of Syria’s chemical weapons

DHAKA: Scientists studying reefs off Australia said on Thursday that sharks play a fundamental role in the health of coral, and overfishing of them made reefs more vulnerable to global warming and weather disasters.A research team, led by Dr Mark Meekan from the Australian Institute of

DHAKA: The Greek press railed on Thursday over the murder of a leftist musician by an alleged supporter of the neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn, amid mounting calls for tighter control of the group.‘The cold-blooded murder of a citizen by a Golden Dawn supporter must awaken everyone,’ the

DHAKA: Egypt is to shorten a nightime curfew imposed on Cairo and 13 provinces starting on Saturday.Egypt Cabinet said on Thursday, reports The Straits Times.The curfew will be from midnight to 5am, except on Fridays when it will begin at 7:00pm, according to a Cabinet statement.The

DHAKA: An Egyptian police officer was shot dead on Thursday, state media reported, during a security operation on the outskirts of Cairo aimed at reasserting control over an area where gunmen killed 11 policemen last month.The police had earlier fired tear gas and exchanged gunfire with

DHAKA: Australia’s new conservative government on Thursday abolished an independent climate change commission set up by the previous Labor administration, as part of its plans to streamline bureaucracy.The Climate Commission was set up to provide apolitical and reliable information to

DHAKA: Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday instructed Tokyo Electric Power Co to decommission the No. 5 and No. 6 reactors at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.The other four reactors at the six-reactor plant, devastated by a massive earthquake and towering

DHAKA: It is crucial to keep the military option on the table in dealing with the Syria crisis, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Thursday.‘I think it is essential for keeping momentum in the diplomatic and political process that the military option is still on the